


Cautious Nature

by Tarlan



Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Introspection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 08:14:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9170326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: No one got to live over five thousand years without being cautious





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ilien](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilien/gifts).



No one got to live over five thousand years without being cautious and Methos had used those five millennia to perfect that particular trait. He had watched empires rise and fall, sometimes lending his sword to one side or another but mostly keeping his distance. He had ridden into legend with three others, becoming the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse. Becoming Death. Yet he had also sat at the feet of great thinkers and artists, and had even spent months with Tibetan monks, learning how to meditate. Of course he'd had an ulterior motive at the time, that of keeping his head firmly attached to his shoulders, and he'd been bored to tears wondering how anyone would want to waste a single mortal lifetime on such a pursuit.

Methos knew he was one of the oldest immortals still walking the Earth with his name a legend whispered down through the ages, but he had learned long ago that it was better to make others believe he had only been around a century or two. Better to let them believe he was weak, with just the Quickening of a few heads to strengthen him. On the occasions when he had no choice but to meet another of his kind in a duel, that presumption gave him an added advantage over his rival.

After five thousand years Methos had learned who to avoid, especially those crazed with blood lust such as the Kurgan. He also knew the whole ' _there can be only one_ ' mantra to explain The Game was a big, fat lie.

"And who would want such a prize as mortality anyway?" he asked. "Growing old and frail, with aching bones and a susceptibility to disease, just for the dubious joy of parenthood."

He would rather walk the Earth for another thousand years as there was still so much to see, so much to learn. All that was missing from his life was a companion, someone who would walk the Earth beside him, never growing old, and never tiring of the beauty and the knowledge surrounding them. He never expected to find that companion, so his friendship with _Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod_ came as a genuine surprise.

"Some would value mortality after centuries of watching those they love grow old and die," Mac replied solemnly, "And are not children a form of immortality?"

"The world is full of children," he replied sarcastically, "But there is only one of me."

Mac laughed and reeled him in for a kiss, throwing caution to the wind. "True, my love. Only one."

END  
 


End file.
